1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fuel cell stack, and more particularly, to a fuel cell stack capable of reducing a volume of an enclosure and securing rigidity of a stack by compactly and integrally assembling a mounting structure of the stack with a minimum number of parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell stack is configured to include a unit module in which a plurality of unit cells are packed into one stack and an enclosure for protecting the unit cells. In some cases, the plurality of unit modules is configured of a single stack.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional structure for fixing the stack, in which assembly is finished by fixing a stack module 3 on an enclosure underframe 1 by using a stack module mounting bracket 7 and then covering the stack module 3 with an enclosure cover 5 to protect the stack module 3. Further, an assembled stack 100′ is fixed to a vehicle or a frame by using the stack mounting bracket 9 which is formed on a side of the enclosure underframe 1.
However, during vehicle operation, vibrations from external forces that are applied to the vehicle and as a result, movement of the stack occurs within the enclosure in a vertical/horizontal direction. As such, conventionally, the applied forces in the vertical/horizontal direction are applied to the stack mounting bracket 7 due to this movement.
As a result, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the enclosure underframe 1 connecting between the stack mounting bracket 9 and the stack module mounting bracket 7 may be damaged due to a relative movement of the stack module mounting bracket 7 with respect to the stack mounting bracket 9. Therefore, the above problem may be solved by increasing rigidity of the enclosure underframe 1. However, often with increased rigidity comes an increase in the overall weight of the enclosure
In addition, the mounting of the stack module and the mounting of the stack are configured separately, such that a dead space for mounting the stack module is necessary, thereby largely increasing the volume of the enclosure.
The matters described as the related art have been provided only for assisting in the understanding for the background of the present invention and should not be considered as corresponding to the related art known to those skilled in the art.